Recall that the incoming premier brief from top bureaucrats within the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet told Premier Dominic Perrottet that Australia needs an “explosive” surge of 2 million migrants to boost the economy:
“An ambitious national immigration plan similar to Australia’s post-World War II approach would ensure Australia would benefit from skills, investment and population growth,” Mr Perrottet was told in the advice, which was seen by The Australian Financial Review…
In a sign the new Premier is taking the advice seriously, Mr Perrottet on Monday said the borders need to be opened up amid a “general labour” shortage to ensure a healthy economic recovery.
“If we lose this opportunity, those skilled migrants will go to other countries,” he said. “We won’t get those engineers, those accountants, they’ll commit to other projects”…
Mr Perrottet was told that a “time-limited” immigration surge could include a “doubling” of pre-COVID immigration levels for the next five years and “unashamedly” focusing on “the skilled migration we need to develop key industry sectors”…
A doubling of that pre-pandemic rate would see net migration leap to more than 400,000 a year, a staggering surge that would see the population swell by 2 million by 2026.
Premier Perrottet then proceeded to lobby the federal government for a big immigration increase.
This week, the 2021 NSW State of Environment report (SoE) was released, which confirmed that population growth is “a significant driver of environmental impacts”:
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In NSW, a rising population accompanied by growing urbanisation has led to greater demand for housing, land, energy, water, consumer products and transport services, and can increase energy, water and resource use, and the generation of waste and emissions.
The reports notes that NSW’s population increased at an annual average growth rate of 1.4% per cent between 2015 and 2020 and will reach over 10 million in 20 years, with much of the growth will be in Greater Sydney (which will grow to 7.1 million by 2041):
By June 2020, 8.17 million people were living in NSW, 61% of whom resided in Greater Sydney. Over the five-year period from June 2015 to June 2020, the state’s population grew by more than 550,000 people…
By 2041, the NSW population is expected to grow to 10.57 million people, with Greater Sydney’s population forecast to reach around 7.1 million by 2041… The challenge will be to manage projected population growth alongside environment protection and conservation, and maintain liveability…
Populations grow because of:
natural increase – the difference between births and deaths
migration – the movement of people to and from other parts of Australia and overseas.
Over the past 40 years, overseas migration has been the most significant contributor to population growth in NSW, with natural increase remaining relatively stable…
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Clearly, the NSW doesn’t give a hoot about the environment. Because if it did, it wouldn’t advocate for such a massive increase in immigration (population growth).
Running a mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ policy is the antithesis of a sustainable environmental policy. Yet left-leaning green groups rarely mention it? Why is that?
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
